Goodbye London!

I'm on my way back home to Scotland and for the first time I am kind of sad about it because it means this amazing trip is over. Don't get me wrong I'm always excited to go back home!  I love being around my family and the people I love and having my general homely comforts around me and not to mention people can actually understand what I'm saying!  But going home means that this trip is over and I wasn't really ready for that. Usually when I go away anyway I am ready to go home after a few days, not that it stops me enjoying the place that I'm in, I like to make the most of these things. But I have had so many brilliant moments on this trip that I wanted it to keep going.

A quick story for context. 

About 2 years ago I started talking to my friend Jenna who lives in Finland. I started following her tumblr blog and realised that we were very similar, we had the same interests and opinions, it was great!  I sent her a message on new years Eve (' Hogmanay ' if you know how to speak properly) saying 'Happy New year!  I really like your blog ' and the rest is history. One of the things we had in common was our quite frankly creepy obsession with Dan and Phil, two British YouTubers that captured the hearts of many teenage (and not so much teenage) girls with their swoopy hair, English accents and bizarre sense of humour.  We would chat for hours about their latest endeavours and what we were up to in our own lives. We became genuine friends. When Dan and Phil announced that they were going on tour it wasn't even a question weather we should go it was a question of how? We got the tickets and have been planning the trip since March. I will admit that the trip didn't really feel real to me until the day before I was going as I have had a lot to deal with with university, placements in A+E and other responsibilities that I deal with a day at a time. So forward planning isn't really my thing.  

Before I knew it I was on the train to London about to spend three days with someone I had ever met in a city I vaguely knew and about to see a show that was the pinnacle of the Dan and Phil community aka 'phandom'. Needless to say it went all went very well and exceeded expectations. I felt a huge amount of pressure to make the trip 'good' I thought it was all on me to be an excellent tour guide and impress with my witty entertainment (not really). The trip was good on its own, I didn't need to make all the effort that I was worried about. The conversation flowed between us, there was no awkward moments. We embraced the obnoxious ' touristness' and had a great time, some of the time when I had nothing planned we just wondered around taking in all the Londonness and appreciating each others company.

Over the weekend we went to The Sherlock Holmes museum, Madame Tussauds, the London Eye, Harrods, a tour bus of London, M&M world, China town and not forgetting the Moomin shop in Covent Garden. We also walked around and ate delicious meals which made me very happy. We also just wondered round and took in the goings on around us. This is more for myself as I don't want to forget anything. Between the both of us I think we took around thousands photograph's.

Then Sunday night came. Time for the Dan and Phil show. We met my cousin and her friend before the show as they were going too. It was really great to enjoy the experience with my wee cousin. It made my day seeing her wee smile after the show. Made my day even more that is as I have to say the show was pretty spectacular.  As horrendously cheesy as it sounds words can not even describe how happy I was from the moment we walked into that theatre (the London palladium no less).  It was truly heart warming to be surrounded by such happy people, everyone was just beside themselves with excitement.  Neither Jenna or I could wipe the smile off our face from the moment everyone was singing along to the songs associated with Dan and Phil at the beginning to when we finally got back to our hotel!  The show was more than we could ever have imagined, pure Dan and Philness for an hour and a half, which really only felt like ten minutes.  It was Dan and Philness times a hundred!  There relentless energy through out was unbelievable!  What made it for me was looking round at everyone else that were as exciting as I was. It was reminded me that Yeah I'm weird but it's very okay to be weird as long as your happy, which is the most important thing. Also we can't be that weird if we are the same as thousands of other people up and down the country now really?

I may upload my photos at a later date but this is more of just a word dump on the train home after the trip than a proper blog post. I just want to remember all the thoughts from after this trip as I don't really remember the last time I was as happy as this. And as the thought of reality and a week of night shift is looming ahead across the border, I want this feeling to last for as long as possible. I'm sure Jenna got bored of be saying 'am so happy right now ' or 'am so chill right now' but I could help it. I just felt like it needed to be said. After a yummy meal, 'that dinner made me happy' sitting on the tour bus 'am really enjoying this', snuggled in bed with a cup to tea and youtube 'am so chill right now', during the show 'am so excited, I can't even explain'

Needless to say...

I am very happy right now. 

Trying New Things and Sticking to them *Gulp*

I realise that by looking at the title you might think this is some kind of January new years resolution kick that will inevitability resolve in the next couple of weeks.

Well it sort of is but also isn't... I would say that I am getting my 'New Years Motivation' in the middle of May but I think this is a bit different. As I finished my second year university exams a few weeks ago I feel a sense of not wanting to waste my summer (even though I will still be working).

 The last four months have been filled with non-stop university lectures, tutorials, essay writing, studying and work. I have quite literally had time for nothing else other than work. I have not even had time for reading which is one of my favourite things to do.

Since I have been in the midst of all this I have missed having free time to work on projects of my own, projects that I can choose and enjoy rather than ones I am forced to do to pass exams.

Now that the time has rolled around where I have all the free time in the world (apart from work) I don't want to waste a minute of it!

Imagine me sitting at my desk with books and papers everywhere day dreaming and making lists of all the things I am going to do with my spare time. I have been looking forward to this moment for months. Now that it has arrived I don't want to just stay in bed and watch Nexflix all day (which I could easilly do). I want to know that I have achieved something in May-September of 2015 other than successfully completing every season of friends. I never really appreciated what great value my free time had until it was taken away from me. 

List of things I hope to achieve.

I feel this will be a good place to document everything. To keep on track and be honest. Or it will be funny to look back on this in cringe then laugh at myself which is what I do with every other 'come back post'.

Exercise more

 (Duh!) I know this is on everyone's 'self-improvement' list but I actually have managed to stick to it so far! What?! I have managed to go to the gym at least 10 times as well as swimming, running and walking as much as I can. I hope to write a more specific post about it later as well and truly getting started is the hardest part!

Start Driving

My Goal is to try and pass my test by September! This could be an ambitious one but we will see how it goes!

Blog More

I love blogging so much. I love looking back at all my old posts and photographs and reading everyone else's beautiful blogs.

Cook More

I always really enjoy cooking and baking. I just never give myself enough time to actually try something new once in a while.

There are also many other little ideas for projects and things I want to do that hopefully I will be able to write about if they seem interesting enough.

Do you have any plans for the summer? Let me know!

December Wrap up!

I can't believe December is already over. I feel like we spend all this month anticipating Christmas then it's all over so quickly. I have really enjoyed my time off work and spending time with my friends and family. I feel like I spent more time with my friends Helen and Emma in December than I have in the past three months. I have really appreciated the time off to chill and watch movies and not worry about a lot as I know January will already be busy with travelling, work and studying. I think my time off with officially be over by the first of January. I have also got back into blogging this month. I have really enjoyed trying to think of things to write about everyday even though some days it has been challenging. I am hoping to keep it up in the new year. At least when I am travelling which will hopefully make exciting reading. 

I wish you all the best in 2015! I hope you have a smashing year!

Camera Obscura - Edinburgh

Me and my friends, Helen and Emma were looking for something interesting to do in Edinburgh that was a bit different from what we normally do. We went to popular tourist attraction Camera Obscura which was really good fun. It was actually a lot better than I expected, there was a lot more stuff to look at than I thought there would be. It was great to be able to interact with some of the exhibits as well, The view of Edinburgh from the roof was breath taking, I wish I could have stayed there longer but it was getting cold and dark so we had to leave.  The only thing I didn't enjoy so much was how busy it was but I think that's just me and it can't be helped because it is so popular. I think I will definitely be taking people back there to enjoy it.

Mirror mazes are always but confusing. I think it walked into a wall a few times!

We got to use lasers to make this picture. I want one of these in my house.

This was very weird. Looking at my friend upside down though this optical illusion.

'And in that moment I swear we were infinite'

It was quite fun watching people in Edinburgh with these cameras. They will never know!

It was funny to see that I am always the one with warm hands and my friends always have cold hands. This thermal camera proves it.

It's like stepping into Alice in Wonderland.

Emma looks so happy and contented with her puppet show.

From the roof top.

Edinburgh Castle and the sunset.

Not really anything to do with the Museum but we saw Grayfriars Bobby on the way home and had to take a picture of him.

New Years Nails - BarryM

There are three things I want for my nails at New Year that is: Glitter, sparkle and more glitter.

BarryM's Rockstar from the Glitterati range is perfect for this time of year. It is a celebration after all and I think this will go with any party out fit or even if you are staying in a nice festive jumper.

 I can't wait for New year! Travelling up to Inverness to spend time with some amazing people. What more could you ask for?

2015 Resolutions...sort of

It's that time of year again, the time when you reflect on yourself and remember that you have flaws.

 I don't know why I have always hated making resolutions, maybe it's because I know that I will enviably fail at 'eating heather' or 'going to the gym'. I have sometimes thought why do we have to wait until the 1st of January to try and make ourselves different? Is the earth circling round the sun one more time really going to make you a different person when you wake up? I know that the idea of 'new beginnings' can be really inspirational to some people but not really for me.

 I think changing things about yourself comes from experiences in your life that have made you think. I think we all change as we grow and learn. These 'resolutions' I have chosen are something that I have notice are naturally changing about me as I have 'grown up' a bit and had some events in my life that have changed my view. I have also met new people that have inspired me to try and become better. I think that over coming some of our 'flaws' can be a life long journey and sometimes we don't even realised how much we have changed till we look back. Growing and over coming your flaws is not just a 1st of January thing. 

Here are some of my ideas, some of them I have already begin to change over the last few months and I want to continue.

Be more confident

I wouldn't say I am a particularity shy person but I am not the loudest either. When I say 'be more confident' I mean be more confident in my own decisions that what I am doing it right. Sometimes I don't think I am as assertive in my decisions as I should be. I often rely on other people to lead me though certain situations. I am making more of my own decisions at work but I need to be more confident when I think I am right, I have a habit of letting other people change my decision because I don't have enough confidence to make my argument.

Be more organised

I just need to face up to the fact that 'organised' is not one of my personality traits. It takes quite a lot of effort for me to get my head around things. I think that I just need to start getting on top of things by dedicating part of my day to just making sure everything is done or there is a time arranged when everything can get done. I think my life will be a lot less stressful.

Do more things

Lately, I have started doing the same things all the time so I want to stretch my self to do more interesting things. Replacing the time I spend on YouTube and browsing with other things like finishing my sort stories which I have really enjoyed recently. My brother is going to teach me some rock climbing I hope. I don't want to make myself busier, I am busy enough between work and studying but just want to stop pointlessly browsing all the time when I know my mind isn't getting anything out of it. 

TBR Jar and 2015 Reading Challange

Today I was inspired by one of my favourite BookTubers to make a TBR jar (or in my case a TBR tin). TBR stands for To-be-read. The idea that you have a pile of books you really want to read but have not got round to yet. Like most people my To-be-read pile grows faster than I can actually read the books. 

As I am also terrible at deciding what books to read next I though the idea of picking them at random is a great idea. I have also made the paper different colours for the books I own and the books I still need to buy. Yellow for the books I already own and Pink for the books that are currently on my Amazon wish list. I thought that if I read two books I currently own then it is justified to buy a new book that way I don't end up owning hundreds of books I have never read. 

I am not sure if this is going to work for me for the whole year but it is worth giving it a go. It was fun writing down all the book titles anyway. I currently own 54 books that I haven't read so hopefully this will help me get though them. 

In 2015 I am also going to continue with me Goodreads Reading Challenge. Next year I am going to set my challenge to 30 books to read in a year and we will see how it goes. I am currently 1 book away from completing my 2014 challenge which was 20 books. I am confident I will be able to complete 30 next year unless something goes horribly wrong. 

My current TBR for next month is

Girl Online - Zoe Sugg
Never Fade - Alexandra Bracken
Paper Towns - John Green
An Abundance of Katherines - John Green
In the after Light - Alexandra Bracken
City of Bones - Cassandra Clare
The Long earth - Terry Pratchet
Entry Island - Peter May

Here is a link to my Goodreads profile
and my 2014 Reading Challenge

Do you have any idea of how to cut down your TBR?